Source: Financial Executives - São Paulo / SP - 30/11/2010

Rio - The president of Fecomércio-RJ, Orlando Diniz, believes that the C class, “which reaches the consumer market with full force”, is driving the increase in the consumption of pirated products in Brazil, but the habit spreads throughout all social classes and age groups. The institution today released research on piracy, showing that 70,2 million people consume pirated products in Brazil, or 13,8 million more than the total that purchased these products in 2006.

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Rafael Favetti, agrees that "the migration of classes has increased consumption in general in the country, of licit and illicit products". He said that there is a "romantic view" in Brazil that those who produce and distribute pirated products are "poor people without a job". According to him, the reality is different. "Whoever does and distributes piracy, according to all the data we have on seizures, shows that whoever makes and distributes these products is linked to organized crime," he said. He believes that the fight involves inspection and repression, but also consumer awareness.

The share of class AB consumers who consume pirated products has dropped in the last five years, but remains high, according to a survey by Fecomércio-RJ. While in 2006 the survey revealed that 53% of consumers in this class consumed pirates, in 2010 the percentage was 47%.

Fecomércio's economist, João Gomes, said that as the demand of the upper class for these products remains high, pirate producers and distributors are more sophisticated products to meet this share. According to him, for all income classes, price is seen as the predominant factor for pirate consumption.

In the other income classes, there was an increase in the percentage of consumers who buy pirates between 2006 and 2010, going from 49% to 53% in class C and from 32% to 39% in class E. Fecomércio's assessment is that the increase in the income for these classes increased consumption in general, including pirates.

Pirate products consumed include CD to cigarettes. The percentage of respondents in the Fecomércio-RJ survey that buys pirated CDs reached 79%, followed by DVDs (77%); glasses (7%); footwear, bags or sneakers (7%); watches (5%); clothes (6%); toys (3%) and cigarettes (4%).

The survey was conducted in 1.000 households in 70 cities, nine of which were metropolitan regions. Today Fecomércio-RJ, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, is launching the campaign “Whoever buys pirated products pays with their lives”. According to Diniz, the objective is to inform consumers about the risks of piracy to their families.